A Step at a Time
by Falneou17
Summary: Everybody's favorite teleporter wakes up one day when she receives a very peculiar phone call. She tries to do her job as a member of Judgment as usual, but why does it seem like something is so off today? What is it that she is missing?


**The sixth oneshot for the Saten Ruiko Day countdown/ LightZephyr Appreciation Week! Today's chapter will focus on Shirai Kuroko! Zeph, I can almost hear you cheering in the distance XD**

 **Just to avoid confusion: I am using their Railgun and Railgun S characters as a basis for characterization. Anything that happened in either Index, Index II, the light novels and/or the manga that did not make it into the Railgun and Railgun S anime were not used as the main basis, so there may be inconsistencies in the "official" Raildex timeline here.**

 **Special thanks to Namitaa776 for helping out!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Toaru Majutsu no Index _or_ Toaru Kagaku no Railgun, nor do I, in any way, shape or form, intend to pretend that I do.**

* * *

On the morning of a day at the end of summer, a tawny-haired girl by the name of Shirai Kuroko let out a yawn as the sun's rays forced her to rise from her slumber. Dawn had, once again, found its way in Academy City, allowing the sun to illuminate the teleporter's shared room in a bright and warm yellowish-orange hue.

The room, despite what Kazari kept saying when she first came to visit, wasn't anything out of the ordinary. Two beds, two wooden tables with a matching chair, and two sets of bookshelves were all that were in the room, placed in such a way to leave enough room left to walk around.

Once she finished rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, Kuroko turned to look at the bed beside her own and couldn't help the frown from forming.

"Onee-sama…" Kuroko muttered as she looked at the abandoned covers. While she was expecting it, she was still worried nonetheless. The ace of Tokiwadai Middle School had been running off in the middle of the night for the past few days, leaving Kuroko to cover for her in her absence. In addition, much to the first-year's growing concern, Mikoto had been acting strange lately as well.

Kuroko was so deep in thoughts that she didn't realize that her phone was ringing, and was heavily startled when she finally did.

"Hello?" Kuroko said after seeing who was calling and picking up the call, "Uiharu, what's wrong?"

 _"Shirai-san! Um… how should I say this?"_ Kazari's voice came from the other end of the call, along with the distinct sound of hurried footsteps and what Kuroko could only assume was something big and heavy being placed on the floor, _"Um… Konori-senpai left the office in a bit of a mess yesterday, so I will be helping her out to clean it up. Can I leave the patrols for the day in your hands?"_

"Hold on, I'm on my way!" Kuroko announced as she jumped off her bed and ran around to gather a change of clothes, but was abruptly stopped when Kazari's voice called out from the other end of the line.

 _"No, it's okay, Shirai-san,"_ Kazari said frantically, the tone in her voice urging the teleporter to halt her step, _"We can really take care of this ourselves, please take care of the patrols for today. In particular, we need you to patrol areas J and N. Thank you!"_

And before Kuroko was able to respond, Kazari had ended the call and the level four found herself staring at her phone.

With a sigh, Kuroko grabbed her pack of needles and silently put it on, and made sure that her armband was still visibly. Before sparing one last look at Mikoto's bed, the Judgment member left their shared room without a sound.

* * *

It was a nice day out, and Kuroko almost wished that she didn't have to do her patrols so she could enjoy it like everybody else could. A soft breeze rustled the leaves of the trees and allowed the inhabitants of Academy City the comfort needed to survive the glaring overhead sun. The fact that all schools in the city were on a one-week break right now only meant that every teenager was enjoying it outside.

Being the dutiful girl that she was, Kuroko made her runs through the assigned areas without much trouble. While she ran into a Skill-Out member or two on her way, it wasn't anything that she couldn't handle on her own.

Before long, the tawny-haired teleporter found herself in front of a familiar crepe shop. Noting that it was clear and perfectly fine, Kuroko was about to leave when she heard her name get called.

Turning around, she found a familiar girl jogging over in her direction.

"It's great to see you again, Shirai-san!" Ruiko smiled in greeting, an action that was returned by Kuroko. Much to the dissatisfaction of both girls, they haven't had the chance to meet up as much as they would have liked to.

"Hello, Saten-san," Kuroko smiled, observing the taller girl's outfit for today. Somehow, Ruiko always managed to wear something different when they met up, and Kuroko always found it amusing to try and predict what kind of clothes her friend would wear this time.

On this warm and sunny summer day, Ruiko was sporting an orange-yellow sundress that somehow looked very good on her. In addition, Kuroko noted, she had her tied up in a ponytail, something that she hasn't seen Ruiko do before.

Looking at her own outfit, Kuroko felt _extremely_ outclassed as she was only wearing her school uniform.

"So what brings you here?" Kuroko asked while eyeing her surroundings and silently observing the people in the area, from the young red haired boy walking by an older brown haired girl she assumed was his sister to the blonde woman treating an injured dove's wing.

Her train of thoughts was broken when Kuroko felt something ice-cold hit her cheek, causing the tawny-haired girl to jump slightly.

Looking up, she saw that Ruiko was holding a can of juice in her hand, clearly in a form of offering it to her.

"Thanks…" Kuroko muttered as she accepted the offer and took a sip from it. Relishing the feeling of the cold orange juice flowing down her throat, the teleporter turned to her friend, "By the way, Saten-san, what brings you here?"

"Me? I was just out and thought of bringing Uiharu something on my way home when I pass the Judgment building," Ruiko replied as she looked around the area before her gaze stopped at the crepe stand, "Shirai-san, do you remember what flavor everybody ordered?"

* * *

"And there is even a rumor going around that there is a girl who can read the minds of animals and heal their wounds with a single touch!" Ruiko finished, emphasizing her point by throwing her hands up in the air dramatically as Kuroko only nodded in silence.

It was getting late, and after a long day of walking around in the city, both girls were about ready to call it a day.

Kuroko was still surprised how they managed to cover so much ground. Along with Ruiko who had been pulling her along, the two of them had somehow gone through three times the number of areas the teleporter usually patrolled on a day.

Despite her exhaustion, there was still one stop left that Kuroko had to get to.

"You know, Uiharu is going to get mad again if you spend too much time in the building," Kuroko reminded her friend as they ascended the stairs to the office, "Didn't she say something like that the last time you were here?"

"It's alright, I came prepared this time!" Ruiko grinned as she held up the plastic bag of crepes in her hand.

Kuroko shrugged, deciding that warning the raven haired girl was enough on her part, and went on to open the door. This, however, made her miss the little smirk that formed on the taller girl's lips.

"Uiharu!" Kuroko called out as she entered the room.

The first thing that she noticed was the darkness. Why were the lights off?

Grumbling under her breath, the teleporter reached for the light switch by the door and pressed it, "Come on, Uiharu, we don't need to—"

Kuroko never managed to finish her sentence.

The moment the light illuminated the room, Kuroko was bombarded with loud explosions from either side and submerged in thousands of tiny…

Confetti?

"What's… going on…?" Kuroko muttered, confused as to what was happening.

"Happy birthday, Shirai-san!" Kazari cheered from Kuroko's right, holding a still mildly smoking party popper in her left hand as Mii approached the teleporter from her left.

"Birth…day…" Kuroko echoed, trying to process what was happening when her eyes widened in recognition as to what day it was, "So is that why—"

"It was, and why they asked you to patrol the areas furthest away from here," a smug voice came from Kuroko, and Ruiko stepped up beside her, "Sorry, Shirai-san, but it wasn't _exactly_ a coincidence that I ran into you today."

It was then that it finally hit her. Kazari's insistence that she wouldn't come to the office, meeting Ruiko on the streets that led up to them spending the entire day away, and everybody's efforts to keep her busy.

With a soft smile, Kuroko turned away to hide her face from her friends, "You really didn't have to…"

"No, you're wrong," a new but still familiar voice said and, upon recognition, caused Kuroko to turn around on her heel.

In doing so, she finally saw everybody, her senior Konori Mii, her friends Uiharu Kazari and Saten Ruiko and her Onee-sama.

It was Mikoto who was holding the cake in her hands with a bright smile.

"Happy birthday, Kuroko!"

"Onee-sama…" Kuroko breathed out softly while trying to discreetly wipe the corners of her eyes.

"If you want to thank someone, then you should thank Uiharu-san." Mikoto suggested as she turned to said girl with a knowing look.

"Misaka-san! We had a promise!" Uiharu exclaimed in shock before turning to her classmate and whispered, "Saten-san! Help!"

Ruiko was about to open her mouth, but stopped when she saw the look that Mikoto was giving her, "Oh yeah, of course. Uiharu was the one who told me to wait near the crepe stand to keep you occupied, Shirai-san."

Ruiko would have said something else when Kazari had forcefully pushed her hand over her mouth, "Alright alright! It was my idea!"

"Come on now, Uiharu," Ruiko said with a smile after gently removing the hand, "You should take credit for what you've done from time to time!"

"Alright, girls," Mii suddenly said, clapping her hands to get the attention of her juniors, "As much as I enjoy watching the four of you, I don't think that that is why we're here, right?"

With simultaneous nods, Mikoto, Kazari, and Ruiko all turned to Kuroko as one.

"What are you waiting for, Shirai-san?" Kazari asked as she motioned towards the cake that was still in Mikoto's hands.

"Just give me a minute…" Kuroko muttered as she closed her eyes, making the other four girls in the room eye her curiously.

After several seconds had passed, the tawny-haired teleporter slowly opened her eyes and blew all fourteen candles out at once.

"Shirai-san, what did you wish for?" Ruiko asked the instant all the candles were out, receiving a painful jab from Kazari as a result.

"Saten-san! You know you shouldn't ask people that!" Kazari scolded as Ruiko chuckled sheepishly.

Watching this, Kuroko couldn't help but laugh herself as she joined her friends.

She didn't need to wish for anything at all.

Kuroko knew that whatever it is that she would have wished for…

She already had everything she could ever wish for right here.

* * *

 **And that wraps up this oneshot! None of the Railgun girls apart from Mikoto got their birthdays revealed, right? I hope you enjoyed it, and stay tuned for tomorrow's oneshot on a different franchise!**


End file.
